1. Field
The present invention relates to receptacles or dispensers for individually dispensing small flat items and more particularly to dispensers for dispensing crackers.
2. State of the Art
Crackers are a widely enjoyed food item which are often eaten with various cheeses and spreads. The crackers, which can be rectangular, round, oblong, or other such shape, are typically packaged together in a stacked configuration and heat sealed within a thin plastic wrapper to form cracker rolls which are packed together in cardboard boxes. The consumer subsequently opens the cardboard box and removes a single cracker roll, which is opened to expose a plurality of the crackers for use directly from therefrom, or for placement on a cracker tray surrounding a bowl containing a spread for use on the crackers. This exposure of the crackers to handling by multiple persons, possible coughing and sneezing, and other forms of contamination is usually acceptable to small groups of people whom know each other such as at social occasions. However, this exposure is generally not acceptable for public gatherings wherein people are present whom are strangers to each other and wherein state and federal laws may govern sanitation. Various types of public gatherings wherein crackers might be used include seminars wherein food is prepared with subsequent tasting of the prepared foods, and wine and cheese tasting events. Crackers are necessary for these types of gatherings for tasting of some types of foods such as for applying spreads, cheeses, and for xe2x80x9ccleansing the pallettexe2x80x9d between tasting of various wines. At such public gatherings, open cracker rolls or open stacks of crackers are undesirable since the crackers can be handled by multiple persons.
Various dispensing devices have been developed particularly designed for dispensing crackers. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,148,382 issued to Stevens is disclosed a sanitary receptacle for crackers which rests on a flat horizontal surface such as a table top. The receptacle includes a curved body having an arcuate bottom and sides. the highest point of the bottom being at the center of the receptacle. Two ends of the body extend upwardly at an angle off vertical from respective upwardly curved portions of the bottom wall bottom. Respective upper corners of the sides are provided with cut-out portions to expose the upper side edges of several of the crackers when placed within the body. A top lid fits to arcuate upper edges of the sides and includes a pair of grooves which fit over the edges of the sides to mate with the body. A knob is provided for grasping the lid. Crackers placed within the body are gravity fed toward one of the ends of the body, with the leading cracker at each end being forced by the weight of the subsequent crackers to follow the curvature of the bottom and slightly elevate the leading cracker. This allows a person to grasp a cracker more easily from the receptacle.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,226,626 issued to Mann is disclosed a cracker dispenser for dispensing up to four crackers simultaneously. The dispenser comprises a casing having four sheet metal corner posts of right-angle cross-section which are held in a rectangular spaced apart relationship at respective upper ends thereof by a band and at respective lower ends thereof by a square wooden bottom. The four corner posts extend below the wooden bottom to provide legs for supporting the dispenser. The casing is divided into four vertically disposed cracker receiving compartments which extend the length of the casing using a pair of metal partitions. A pair of metal guide strips are disposed in each respective lower portion of the vertical compartments with upper ends thereof secured to the partitions. The guide strips are curved, being slanted downward and outwardly to respective forward and rear edges of the bottom. A pair of glass side plates extend from the top of the casing, with a pair of front and rear glass plates which terminate just short of the bottom to leave openings for removing crackers from the casing. A removable top lid fits over the casing to form an enclosed container for the crackers. A weight is suspended by a spring from the lid at the center of each compartment resting on stacks of crackers disposed in the respective compartments. The weight forces the crackers downwardly such that when inner edges of the crackers contact the curved guide strips and outer edges of the cracker reach the openings, the crackers are caused to slant downward and are impelled outwardly of the casing whereby they may be grasped in hand using one""s fingers. The dispenser is for keeping the crackers fresh, clean and sanitary with the crackers therein visible through the glass sides and ends.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,247,834 issued to Davis, Jr. et al. is disclosed a cracker dispenser which comprises a casing of rectangular cross-section with an open top. A top lid is frictionally engagable a with the casing to close the open top thereof. The casing includes a plurality of openings which extend through the bottom of the casing for removing crackers. A base is attached to the bottom of the casing which is hollow, open at the bottom, and of a frusto-pyramidal shape. The casing is subdivided into a pair of individual cracker storage compartments by an integrally formed, slotted dual upright partition and cracker supporting platform made of a single sheet of material. The partitions diverge slightly from top to bottom with the cracker supporting platforms being in a common plane. A pair of slotted ejector grids are each of a rectangular shape being made of a sheet of material. A pair of upright lugs are formed on a rear edge of each ejector grid and a handle is formed on a front edge of each ejector grid. The ejector grids are slidably mounted beneath the cracker supporting platforms whereby respective slots of the cracker supporting platforms are disposed in registry with the upright lugs of the ejector grids. Therefore, the upright lugs can ride in the slots of the respective cracker supporting platform during sliding motion of the ejector grids, the handles facilitating gripping of the ejector grids. A hook is mounted on each of the ejector grids which is connected to a common spring therebetween for holding the grids in a retracted position within the casing. When crackers are stacked within the two compartments of the casing, the crackers rest against the partition elements and upon the cracker supporting platforms. Individual crackers are ejected from the respective compartment by gripping in hand and pulling horizontally outwardly on the handle of one or both ejector grids. As the ejector grid slides outwardly, the upright lugs engage with a back portion of the lowermost cracker from the stack whereby the cracker is moved outwardly through the ejector port. Upon release of the handle the grid moves back to a retracted position under the bias of the spring with an outwardly projecting portion of the cracker being held in place between the stack of crackrs and the cracker supporting platform. The cracker may then be grasped in hand and pulled from the dispenser.
Dispensers for individually dispensing items other than crackers have also been developed. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,576,010 issued to Swartz is disclosed a package dispensing container having a body in the form of an upright chute made of sheet metal. The chute includes a back, a pair of sides, and a pair of front flanges disposed in a spaced relationship to define a central upright opening. The upright opening is covered by a strip of transparent glass wherein respective side edge portions of the glass are slidably held by respective folded edge portions of the front flanges with a bottom edge of the glass engaging respective inwardly bent lips of a lower portion of the respective folded edge portions to provide a stop for the bottom edge of the glass short of the bottoms of the sides and the back to provide an open mouth. A pair of forwardly projecting arms extend from a bottom portion of the back, each arm being horizontal with downwardly angled forward end portions. A central deflecting tongue also extends from the bottom portion of the back between the arms, being split upward from its bottom and bowed forwardly, a forward portion of the tongue extending downwardly though a space between the arms, forward of the plane of the back. The top of the chute is inclined and provided with yoked cover to cover the open upper end of the chute. The cover can be opened forward to an approximately horizontal position abutting the forward portion of the chute such that the chute can be refilled with packages to be dispensed, and the portion of the cover when in the swung position serves as a shelf for temporarily supporting the packages to permit the use of both hands to insert the packages into the chute through the open top. Once filled, the weight of the stacked packages in the chute causes the rear lower edge of the lowermost package to engage the tongue at a position adjacent the back such that the weight causes the lowermost package to be projected forwardly until it rests upon and is supported only by the arms with the front thereof projecting through the mouth in a position where it can be grasped in hand and removed from the dispenser. The process continues as more packages are removed sequentially from the dispenser, those packages above fall due to the weight of the stacked packages, the lowermost package is projected forwardly by the tongue.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,325 issued to Pawlowski et al. is disclosed a dispensing carton for flat, rectangular items. Comprising a carton of generally rectangular cross-sectional shape which includes a pair of compartments each of generally rectangular cross-sectional shape and defined by elongate side walls in combination with the end walls. A stack of rectangular items such as paper pouches containing tea bags are stacked in each compartment of the carton. The cross-sectional area of the compartments is less than that of the item, with one dimension thereof being about the same as the corresponding dimension of the item and in one direction, and is less than the corresponding dimension of the item in the other direction. Therefore, the items stack within the compartments at an angle slightly off horizontal. A slot is provided in a lower region of one side wall to remove the items one by one, with central upper and lower edges of the slot being notched to facilitate grasping the items. The lowermost item for dispensing lies horizontally and the adjacent item immediately thereabove lies at an angle off horizontal as do the other items, being retained by the side walls such that lowermost item for dispensing contacts the adjacent item immediately thereabove only at a rear edge of each. This designed permits grasping and removal of lowermost item for dispensing through the slot to cause the adjacent item immediately thereabove to move and pivot downwardly to the lowermost position for removal through the slot. This design assures one-at-a-time dispensing of the items and ease of item removal due to minimal friction between the lowermost item being dispensed and the adjacent item immediately thereabove, with essentially a line contact between the item being dispensed and the adjacent item immediately thereabove.
There is a need for a rack or dispenser in which a stack of crackers may be positioned and sequentially removed one by one from the lower end of the stack, particularly for the food preparation gatherings wherein only a single cracker is typically needed by each person.
The present invention is a cracker dispenser which includes a housing adapted to receive a plurality of stacked crackers from a roll thereof. The housing has a generally horizontally disposed lower wall with a finger receiving slot and at least one upstanding wall adapted to retain the plurality of crackers in a stacked position. The housing includes a cracker dispensing opening is disposed adjacent the lower wall for slidably dispensing the crackers. The housing has a cracker roll receiving opening for admitting crackers from the roll thereof into a cracker receiving interior chamber defined by the housing. The cracker dispenser further includes a movable door operatively connectable to the housing for selectably opening to admit crackers from the roll thereof and closing to cover the cracker roll receiving opening. A lowermost cracker may be removed from the inner chamber by engaging the lowermost cracker by finger and sliding outwardly from said interior chamber. A next lowermost cracker then becomes the lowermost cracker for subsequent removal. It should be noted at the outset that the word xe2x80x9ccrackerxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccrackersxe2x80x9d as used herein is intended to cover other edible items such as cookies and other generally flat food products.